Bradford Dragons’ suffered another defeat on Saturday evening, at the Dragons Den, this time at the hands of Tees Valley Mohawks, 90-95.It has been a turbulent time for the Dragons in recent weeks, culminating in the loss of both Chris McGrew, who has flown home to America, and Nathan Ashley, who has taken up the option to return to London with Westminster Warriors. However, the Dragons remained keen to get their season quickly back on track, following last weekend’s defeat in the semi-finals of the National Trophy.In their first home game for almost a month, it was the Dragons that started the liveliest and they took the first quarter by 25 points to 22. The second period followed pretty much the same script and when the two teams went back to the locker rooms, at the half, Bradford were leading by five points, 44-39.Neither team really managed to stamp their authority in a closely fought third quarter, which saw the visitors reduce Bradford’s lead to just four points, 67-63, and the game was set up for a tense final period.

With five minutes left of play, the Mohawks had been unable to close Bradford down any further (79-75) and it looked as though the home side were set to hold out for the victory. However, as has so often been the case in the past, the Dragons let the lead slip when it most matters, allowing their guests to add a further 20 points and to take the game at 90-95.

It was the Dragons’ fifth consecutive defeat, in all competitions, which now leaves them siting two positions and four points below the end-of-season play-off berths.

Top scorer for the Dragons was J.P. Davis with 29 points, followed by Rihards Sulcs on 18 points, Miguel Lorenzo with 16 points and Jermayne Laing netting 14 points.

Reflecting on the game, Bradford’s head coach, Chris Mellor said, “We were ahead most of the game but never really put them away. Even though we were scoring regularly, Samuels, Nelson and Rhodes kept coming up with answers at the other end. We traded baskets for much of the game, but again our defence wasn’t good enough when it mattered.”

Bradford travel to Hemel Storm next Saturday, but then return to the Dragons Den for a home double-header weekend against Westminster Warriors on Saturday 28th February and Essex Leopards on Sunday 1st March. Advance ticket sales for both of these games are available at www.ticketsource.co.uk/bradforddragons.

In other results, the under 14’s recorded another convincing victory, 12-106, away at Leeds Force II on Saturday afternoon, whilst the under 18’s also won on the road, 70-89 at Gateshead Phoenix.